FONTANA >> One of the worst-kept secrets in area high school sports in recent memory became official when Nick Matheny was named new head football coach at Summit.

“I really like the culture at the school and there’s been a strong tradition of success,” he said.

Matheny admitted there are some hurt feelings. Matheny had left Aquinas to return to his alma mater, Fontana High, two years ago to try and resurrect that program.

After two years and a 5-15 record, Matheny left Fontana for its Sunkist League and city rival Summit after Cesar Villalobos stepped down following a 5-6 record and second-place finish.

“I’m very proud for what was done at Fontana and thankful for the opportunity,” he said. “It was difficult to leave Fohi for a school in the same district and same league. I hope Fohi goes 9-1 this season.

“I’ve had a lot of great kids the last two years.”

Matheny said this year’s Summit-Fontana game will be a little odd.

“It will feel weird being on the visitor’s sideline at (Fontana High’s) Steeler Stadium this year,” he said.

Matheny is not on-campus at Summit yet, but hopes to be soon. He has been meeting with players and getting his program in place.

Perhaps one of the key assistant coaches to aid in the transition will be defensive coordinator Mark Mercado. Matheny said the Summit coaching staff will be “half from Fontana and half from Summit,” but Mercado is one of the returning Summit coaches who is a longtime friend of Matheny and was one of his assistants when the they were at Aquinas.

“I’ve always appreciated the success they (Summit) have had on the field and their academic success,” he said.

Matheny goes to a school with a much more recent history of success that includes a CIF-SS title in 2011 than the one he left, but he’s not making any specific promises or predictions for this season.

“I don’t know about wins and losses,” he said. “The first thing is to make the playoffs. Expectations are high. We want to play at a high level.”

Meanwhile, the school he left, Fontana, is in the process of conducting interviews for his replacement.

Pete Marshall started his career as a freelancer for The Sun in 1991, then later was hired full time by the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in 1995. Since then he has covered a variety of sports for the Daily Bulletin and The Sun, primarily high school sports and minor league baseball. He's been doing it long enough that he's now covering the children of student-athletes he covered when he first started.